Lord Janner accused of raping boys in Houses of Parliament

Labour peer Lord Janner has been described as a "serial child abuser" who allegedly "violated, raped and tortured" children in the Houses of Parliament.

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale, made the claims in a Westminster Hall debate. His comments are covered by Parliamentary privilege, which legally protects him from being sued for libel.

Danczuk said the Crown Prosecution Service's failure to prosecute Lord Janner "offends every principle of justice" and that anyone who had heard the accusations would be "outraged".

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Two months ago, Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, said the CPS accepted that the evidence was sufficient to have warranted charging and prosecuting Janner in relation to 22 historical allegations between 1969 and 1988, including indecent assault and buggery of a male under 16.

However, she announced that Janner would not face charges because the 86-year-old is suffering degenerative dementia and it would not be in the public interest to start criminal proceedings.

Danczuk said it was "shocking" that the CPS had refused to bring a case when it had admitted that the witnesses are reliable.

"I have met Leicestershire police and discussed the allegations in some detail: children being violated, raped and tortured, some in the very building in which we now sit," he said.

Danczuk's office has also spoken to a number of the alleged victims and heard their stories. "I cannot overstate the effect that this abuse has had on their lives," he said.

The MP questioned why there was not going to be a "fitness to plead" process, in which a "trial of the facts" would take place. In this case, if a defendant is found to be "unfit to plead" by a judge, a jury would still hear from victims and determine whether he committed the crime for which he is charged, but the decision would not amount to a determination of guilt.

Danczuk said he failed to see how the "knowledge that a peer of the realm is a serial child abuser is not in the public interest" and that a fitness to plead process would "clear up doubts that still linger".

Janner's family insists he is "entirely innocent of any wrongdoing", notes the BBC.